The so-called "Ultimate Emerald" is actually a fan-made modification based on the original Emerald.
It adds many Pokémon and maps from later generations, and also alters some storylines, making it a masterpiece of fan-made video games.
The difficulty of this game is likely several times greater than that of the original Emerald. All NPCs possess highly intelligent AI, which judges their actions based on the player's team and the situation of the Pokémon.
For example, they can perform advanced actions such as switching Pokémon for defensive maneuvers, executing attacks, or using items—sometimes even more intelligently than the player!
Furthermore, due to the game's level restrictions, it is very difficult to defeat them using traditional level-based methods.
This causes many players to get stuck when encountering this modification, having to consult guides to barely manage to overcome it.
As for "Insane Mode," it is a hidden difficulty level in this game. Although it's called "Crazy Mode," it's truly hellish, outrageously difficult—enough to crush you! Ling Feng had some ideas beyond "Crazy Mode," such as further increasing the difficulty of the levels and using the system to improve the NPCs' AI, allowing them to perform more flexible combat moves.
After all, this was a world where everyone was a Pokémon Trainer and Pokémon were everywhere. If the game's difficulty wasn't increased, it would be too easy for some players.
Besides, Ling Feng's main goal in creating this game was, well, to mess with the players and increase the challenge.
So an easy mode could wait.
With this in mind, Ling Feng opened the folder and tried to think of some ideas.
"System, can it be done?"
[Yes, start production immediately?]
Ling Feng nodded.
"Let's begin."
As Ling Feng had initially hoped, the system should increase his game development speed tenfold. And indeed, his efficiency improved dramatically.
However, to bring some of his ideas to life and improve the game's quality, he spent an entire night making modifications and adjustments.
Suddenly, the night was over.
The morning sun streamed through the window, and the city awoke from the twilight.
Ling Feng finished checking the game's name and description one last time, dragged the folder to the website, took a deep breath, and clicked the upload button.
This time, there was no bright red notification; only four large green characters appeared: "Upload successful!"
He let out a long sigh of relief, drew the curtains, and without even turning off his computer, got up and collapsed onto the bed beside him, falling asleep instantly.
After a night of hard work, he was incredibly tired. Although staying up late was commonplace for him in his previous life, his body seemed much weaker in this world, and he truly couldn't endure it any longer.
If I don't fall asleep soon, I might have to make another time-traveling trip.
I must go to sleep immediately.
A few seconds later, he closed his eyes; his regular breathing filled the room.
But just then, a figure suddenly emerged from the shadows behind the curtains.
From its appearance, it resembled a white candle, with a pair of large, dark green eyes and a flickering, deep blue flame above its head: both unsettling and alluring.
However, upon closer inspection, it was clear that the flame was weak, as if it were about to go out.
This was a Ghost-type Pokémon called Litwick.
Don't let its adorable appearance fool you; in fact, it's a Pokémon that feeds on the souls of other living beings!
This Pokémon lights a candle above its head, pretending to guide passersby, but in reality, it's silently absorbing their souls.
At that moment, Litwick glanced around with a certain indifference, shaking its body.
"I'm so hungry!"
"I wish there was something to eat..."
The next instant, its gaze fell upon Ling Feng, who was asleep, and its eyes instantly lit up.
"This person smells so good!"
"Yummy!"
"If it only eats a little soul, there won't be a problem, right?"
"So... eat a little?"
Today is Saturday. According to the League's rules, most people, except those who work in the service sector, are on vacation.
In this world where the entertainment industry isn't very developed, watching live streams is a good way to pass the time.
At that moment, on Psyduck, the largest live streaming platform on the internet, a room that had been silent for a long time quietly reopened.
The next instant, like a tidal wave, users flooded the live stream, instantly surpassing 100,000 viewers!
[She's here! She's here! My wife is here!]
[Ahhhhhh, she's finally live!]
[Pfft! The early bird catches the worm!]
Amid the frenzied flurry of comments, the live stream began, displaying a background image of a Garchomp in a cool battle.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, a woman sat in front of that same computer.
She was tall and slender.
Her gray eyes were like deep, dark pools, serene and mysterious.
Her knee-length blonde hair flowed like milky white silk, shimmering captivatingly in the sunlight.
The woman radiated a natural warmth, but a closer look revealed a remarkably well-disguised aura of confidence.
It was none other than the strongest champion in the Sinnoh League, a legendary trainer, the woman who stood at the pinnacle of power, Cynthia!
At that moment, Cynthia turned on her camera and smiled at the viewers of the live stream.
"Good morning, everyone! The League has had a much-anticipated day without missions, so I finally have time to see you all."
"Did you miss me? I missed you all so much."
With her appearance, the live stream chat buzzed again, and the number of viewers instantly skyrocketed.
"I missed you too, darling!"
"She asked me if I missed her; she cares about me!"
"Finally, I've been waiting for you," she sobbed. I was supposed to work overtime today, but as soon as I heard you were streaming, I quit immediately. [As soon as I heard you were streaming, I rode my bike for three hours from my town to an internet cafe in town, just to watch your stream.]
Seeing these comments, Cynthia couldn't help but laugh.
"Everyone on the stream is as funny as ever!"
"Well, since I'm streaming all day, what do you want me to do?"
After her question, the comments responded.
["Nana, I'll watch what you're streaming!"]
"Path of Battle? I'll learn a ton watching you play that!"]
"How about we play something else? I'm sick of watching this!"]
"Upstairs, if you're not going to play Path of Battle, are you going to play that garbage game where Geodude rolls down the street?"]
Most of the comments supported Cynthia playing "Path of Battle." Seeing this, Cynthia nodded and opened the icon of a red and white ball on the desktop.
"So, let's play Battle Road."
Battle Road is a battle simulation game released six months ago by Dream Factory.
Although its features are imperfect in several aspects and it has some bugs, and the updates over the last six months have been rather weak,
however, this game allows players to create their own Pokémon teams and participate in relatively realistic simulated battles with other players, making it an innovative game with undeniable competitiveness; it has no rival in the market. Therefore, even though players are full of complaints and very dissatisfied with Dream Factory, they have no other option, and the game's popularity is extremely high.
In the last six months, everyone from ordinary non-trainers to Elite Four champions has been playing it; it's practically a game for everyone.
That said, Cynthia decided to stream this game not only because the chat wanted to see it, but also because, even as a champion, she could easily experiment and learn about new Pokémon and teams through the game, increasing her understanding and knowledge of battles.
However, at that moment, when Cynthia opened the game to log in, she froze.
Because a message appeared before her eyes.
[Fatal Server Error: Unable to Connect!]
At that moment, dissatisfaction in the chat began to flood the screen.
[Damn it, Dream is wasting time again!] [The classic server crashed. They make a ton of money every year; If they used a tenth of that for server maintenance, it wouldn't be like this.]
[mgcsml] (as it was in the translation)
[Well, it looks like we won't be able to watch the streamer's game today.]
[Dream Factory's servers are notoriously bad; it's common knowledge, and we're all used to it.]
Cynthia frowned slightly and closed the game interface.
"Looks like we can't play today. Any suggestions?"
Unable to play Path of Battle, Cynthia had lost some interest, but considering the large audience on the stream, she asked with a friendly smile.
[Angry Stone!]
[The Legend of Pikachu!]
[How about watching a movie?]
The chat was filled with suggestions again.
However, at that moment, a paid red comment caught Cynthia's attention.
It was from a long-time streamer follower whose donations totaled millions.
["The Cat Who Loves Fish": Sister Cynthia, it seems the League's official website has recently organized a new game promotion festival. Do you want to check it out?]
Yes, as the creator of the global internet, the League naturally handles these matters related to video game culture.
Upon seeing this message, Cynthia suddenly realized there was an announcement for the new game promotion festival right next to her stream interface.
So she clicked and started browsing.
What a moment! She also wanted to see what new games were worth playing recently.
But the result was disappointing, as the website displayed outdated and low-quality game content, and even three modified versions of "Angry Stone"! "It's just that Geodude has been replaced by Togepi, Magnemite, and Miltank."
Just as Cynthia was feeling a bit disappointed, a game cover suddenly caught her eye, making her eyes widen in surprise.
From the ethereal mist, the silhouette of a giant dragon appeared, accompanied by shimmering golden symbols.
Even through the screen, she could vaguely sense the majesty and power emanating from that phantom!
How is this possible?
Cynthia was stunned.
Because she recognized the silhouette: it was a legendary Pokémon!
"The legendary ruler of the skies, the god of dragons, Rayquaza!"
She knew about Rayquaza because of her status as Champion, which gave her access to numerous sources of information, and she was also a mythological archaeologist. Ordinary people were unaware of the existence of a legendary beast of this caliber; its history had faded over centuries.
Even the last ancient document that recorded its history was reduced to ashes in a great fire.
But now the image of this legendary beast appears on the cover of a game?
Could it be a coincidence?
This thought crossed her mind for a moment before being completely dismissed by Cynthia.
No, absolutely impossible!
Before that document was destroyed in the fire, she had the privilege of reading its contents. The description of Rayquaza in the book was almost identical to the creature's characteristics!
Her gaze fell upon the name of the game's creator, where only one word appeared:
[Wind]
As a Champion, she had never heard of such a person. Did it seem like some kind of alias? Cynthia pulled out her phone and searched for the game's publisher's information, only to discover that they hadn't left any contact information, not even the company name; it appeared to be a solo developer.
This was a bit of a problem…
Cynthia had originally intended to contact them directly to ask about Rayquaza.
Now it seemed that, since the publisher was a solo developer and hadn't left any contact information, even using her contacts in the League wouldn't be enough.
And most importantly, her friend, who was good at finding people, was probably unreachable lately.
As Cynthia pondered this, she unconsciously began to examine the game closely.
The game's name caught her attention.
[Pokémon: Emerald (Beta)]
What kind of name was that?
It was completely unlike any other game on the market.
Furthermore, this game was pixel art.
This is a common category for low-quality, low-tech games. Due to their low production costs, many bad games are produced, mainly those that only aim to make a quick buck and disappear.
He checked the game's description again and found no sophisticated information; the content was very simple, just one sentence.
[Find and train different Pokémon, form your team, and embark on a wonderful adventure with them.]
Below this sentence were two lines of small red text.
The first line read:
[Attention! Non-professional trainers are prohibited from playing this game!] Otherwise, the game will not be held responsible for any negative consequences such as hypertension, heart disease, or cerebral hemorrhage.]
Seeing this, Cynthia couldn't help but raise her eyebrows slightly, somewhat surprised.
Hypertension? Heart disease?
Can just playing a video game be that serious?
That's a bit of an exaggeration.
Then she glanced at the second line of red text.
[The first player to complete the beta version of this game can add the author's contact information via a friend code and receive a reward of 100,000 Poké Dollars.]
Cynthia's gaze sharpened instantly.
Contact information!
The game itself didn't seem like anything special to her; after all, it didn't seem like an innovative game, at least not comparable to Battle Road.
A reward of 100,000 Poké Dollars; as a champion, she certainly wouldn't lack that small sum.
But if completing the game would grant her the author's contact information, then she had no choice but to play.
Since this author could create Rayquaza's image and pattern with such precision, he wasn't an ordinary person!
He might possess even more information about Rayquaza!
As a mythology enthusiast, Cynthia couldn't bear the thought of missing out on such information.
With this in mind, she added the game to her shopping cart and clicked "buy."
However, a moment later, the pop-up payment screen left her stunned once again!
[Purchase Pokémon Emerald (Beta), requires 288 Poké Dollars. Buy now?]
288 Poké Dollars?
Even those big-budget games haven't gone over a hundred Poké Dollars...
And this pixelated game dares to sell for three hundred Poké Dollars?
Even the usually composed Cynthia was starting to lose her composure.
Although she wasn't short of money...
But this price... wasn't it too high?
(End of chapter)